Title: Adam Walker Collection (VMF176), 1786-1787
Administrative/Biographical History
Adam Walker (1731–1821) was an English inventor, writer, and popular science. He was the son of a woolen manufacturer in Patterdale, Westmorland, England. Mainly self-taught, he attended fashionable lectures on experimental philosophy in Manchester and established his own school there in 1762. In 1766, he purchased the “philosophical apparatus” of an itinerant lecturer, William Griffith. For publicity he inserted advertisements in local papers and wrote a book entitled Syllabus of a Course on Natural Philosophy (Kendal, 1766). His syllabus covered ‘Astronomy, the use of Globes, Pneumatics, Electricity, Magnetism, Chemistry, Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Hydraulics, Engineering, Fortifications, and Optics.’ As a lecturer he travelled the north of England, using Manchester as a base.
He settled in London after many years as a travelling science lecturer. He was responsible for the introduction of the Eidouranion and an improved type of harpsichord. He also had an interest in astronomy. His numerous popular works on science included An Epitome of Astronomy.
